Homing In on Barbecue Perfection at D.C. Takeout

By Nancy Lewis
Thursday, May 24, 2007

Good barbecue is hard to find.

I cover restaurants throughout the region, and a couple of years ago spent several weeks eating at more than 40 barbecue joints from Frederick County to St. Mary's County and from Gainesville to Annapolis. Some places that have great pulled pork have dry, overcooked ribs. Others have great potato salad or pie but gray, mushy pork. One place had great tart-yet-sweet coleslaw but nothing else noteworthy.

So I was skeptical when a neighbor suggested I try a nearby place, just across the street from the Takoma Metro station. I haven't been impressed with any of the other little takeouts around our area's Metro stop and didn't hold out a lot of hope for the Red Line Grill.

Boy, was I wrong. The Red Line Grill is Washington's hidden barbecue jewel.

It doesn't look like much. A Caribbean restaurant used to occupy this storefront along what passes for the business area of the District side of Takoma. There is a line of wooden booths along one side of the restaurant, but most of the space is taken up with the meat-smoking area in the rear and by the kitchen. There is a small counter in front and a cooler for soft drinks.

There are no hokey down-home sayings plastered all around, or spittoons of (bad) salted roasted peanuts. Bottles of hot sauce don't line the walls. The main decorations are the homemade cakes, cooked by a friend of the owner, sitting on the front counter. It's more a takeout place than a real sit-down restaurant.

Don't hold that against it.

John Smith took over the restaurant in January from a friend who had opened it a year earlier. Smith may have learned his barbecuing in New Jersey, but he learned very well.

The Red Line Grill is one of those rare places that gets almost everything right. And it's all prepared on the spot by Smith, his brother Keith Robinson and other members of the family. He smokes the ribs four hours, but the pork and brisket get eight hours of smoking.

The pulled pork sandwich has long shreds of flavorful, moist pork shoulder meat with just enough crispy edges to make it interesting, topped with a tomato-based, slightly sweet sauce, similar to what I grew up with in Georgia. The sandwich is piled high with meat on a really good kaiser roll. The beef brisket, chopped somewhat finer than the pork, is just as good.

And the ribs -- giant, meaty hunks -- are cooked just right. The meat doesn't slide off the bone, but it releases easily when you take a bite. The same, slightly sweet barbecue sauce is applied to the ribs, just before they are served. A half-rack is easily enough for two.

I can't recall another barbecue place where the pork, beef and ribs are all so good.

But it doesn't stop there. The potato salad isn't the best I've ever eaten, but it's a very good rendition, with just the right amount of mustard in the dressing to give it a little bite. The coleslaw is slivers of cabbage with a little carrot in a sweet yet vinegary dressing that just needs a little salt.

The fried okra begins as frozen slices but is breaded and cooked to order, arriving at the table with just the right proportion of batter to okra. It tastes bright, with just a touch of the slime that characterizes good okra.

The french fries are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, and are slightly flavored with an Old Bay-type seasoning. And the place has real onion rings that taste like sweet onions in a light batter.

I prefer my baked beans with a little more brown sugar and mustard, but these have a real barbecue taste. Other side orders are macaroni and cheese and collard greens.

The Red Line Grill offers several types of seafood -- fried catfish strips, fried shrimp, whiting and salmon. Everything is prepared to order. The home-style breaded shrimp is crisp, not overcooked and actually tastes like shrimp. There is also Boom! Boom! shrimp that are fried and tossed in a creamy sauce.

But there's one more gem: the hot wings, meaty, succulent little wing drumettes that are packed with flavor and seasoned with the hot sauce in your choice of heat. The medium wings have just a little fire, and they aren't dripping with sauce -- as many wings are -- so they are relatively neat to eat.

So what's the caveat for the Red Line Grill? It's a family-owned and wholly family-operated small business. It's not fast food, because everything is cooked to order. Service can be slow and erratic -- but the person taking your order may be one of Smith's young teenage children, son Jovon or daughter Quanaeshia. His wife, Aca, also helps out. The restaurant doesn't serve beer, but the cooler is filled with all kinds of soft drinks, including orange soda.

The Red Line Grill serves home cooking in the best sense of the word. And it's less than a block from the Metro, for anyone wanting to check it out.

For nearly five years of reviewing restaurants, I've always asked myself the question: If this restaurant were in my neighborhood, would I eat there?

Finally, a place in my own neighborhood meets my criteria.

The Red Line Grill, 6912 Fourth St. NW, 202-291-9464. Metro: Takoma. Hours: 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 11:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 1 to 9 p.m. Sundays. Pulled pork sandwich, $5.99; chopped beef sandwich, $6.49; rib sandwich, $6.49. Half-slab of ribs, $12.99; full slab, $23.99. Seafood, $7.99-$14.99; side dishes, $1.99 to-$2.95. Buffalo wings, 10 for $6.75, 50 for $29.75. Wheelchair-accessible.

If you have a favorite restaurant that you think deserves attention, please contact Nancy Lewis atlewisn@washpost.com.